GoI70

The main thing to know when making travel plans for Presidents Day is that there are a lot of people up in the mountains this weekend. Be prepared for plenty of company on the highway and some significant rush hour delays going east back to Denver. Expect delays to begin before the usual 2 pm beginning for the rush hour.

Road conditions will continue to be snowy and slick on Monday and frequent light snow will return to the mountains after clearing off on Sunday. Traffic Sunday afternoon wasn’t as heavy as was anticipated. What went up the mountain Friday and Saturday, will come back down Monday evening.

The light snow which caused Friday and Saturday’s I-70 travel delays is expected to return Monday. Snow and snow packed roads will be a factor on Monday as travelers make their way back down the mountain in the afternoon. The biggest factor will be the large number of people who want to be at work on Tuesday morning.

Once again, these are classic winter driving conditions: not a blizzard, just some light snow. Keep awake, don’t push too hard and stay up to date with the GoI70 mobile app at http://goI70.com/mobile

CDOT Suggests Taking Alternate Routes

The Colorado Department of Transportation is warning travelers to “(e)xpect major delays on EB I-70 from Vail to Denver… Monday from 9A-7P. Take alternate routes.” Not a bad notion but as most of you know there are only a few alternate routes that apply.
For those of you vacationing in the Breckenridge area and headed to the southern part of the metro area, alternative routes might include taking Colorado 9 to Fairplay and then going to Denver along 285. It’s a lengthy detour but if the delays on I-70 between Silverthorne and Idaho Springs approach an hour, it may be worth the extra miles in time saved.

For people coming home from Keystone and A-Basin going over Loveland Pass is an obvious route and it could conceivably offer time savings for those coming from Breckenridge over Swan Mountain Road. But Loveland Pass is not for the faint of heart or the mountain newcomer. You should also be aware that Loveland Pass is frequently closed because of visibility issues, snow or avalanche obstruction.

We can not recommend using US 6 as an all purpose alternative to I-70 on a heavy travel day like Presidents Day. It goes roughly the same place as I-70 and many people will imagine that it is moving faster than the highway when they look over to the side of the road during a particularly nasty moment of interstate stop and go. But, many, many locals use US 6, so it tends to reach equilibrium with I-70 pretty quickly. Beyond that it is a two lane highway thru a twisty canyon. If it is snowing on I-70, it will be snowing in Clear Creek Canyon.

The Presidents Day Weekend So Far
The Friday rush out of town was heavy enough to cause significant delays. Saturday saw heavy traffic and long delays in both directions as travelers encountered snow, slick roads and strong winds at the higher elevations.

Wet, snow packed and, sometimes, icy roads turned the Saturday morning ride up the mountain to the ski resorts into a minor epic .In the morning travelers headed west encountered delays of over an hour getting up the Georgetown Hill, thru Silver Plume and up to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Just west of Frisco, a multi-car pile up slowed traffic for a time as well. The snow continued off and on all day as did the westbound delays.

Eastbound traffic on Saturday followed the classic rush hour pattern beginning soon after 2pm as skiers and boarders left the resorts. Delays of over an hour extended from 2:30 pm to around 6 when highway travel smoothed out and speeds returned to near normal.

Sunday afternoon the highways were tame and delays were a fraction of those encountered most Sundays. It appeared that fewer travelers than predicted made the trip back to Denver on Sunday.